(Machern)ANDREAE, Paul Christian Gottlob and Johann Elias LANGE.   MACHERN.   Für Freunde der Natur und Gartenkunst. Mit einem Plan und eilf colorirten Prospekten... Nebst einem alphabetischen Verzeichnisse der daselbst sich befindenden ausländischen Gewächse.       Leipzig: Voss und Compagnie,   1796.          A rare illustrated guide book for one of the first landscape gardens in Germany. The garden was created by Count Carl Heinrich August von Lindenau at his estate in Machern near Leipzig. Although his father, Heinrich Gottlieb von Lindenau, had already introduced a few naturalistic elements into the park during the 1760's, the major expansion and transformation of the property into an English garden was begun by the Carl Heinrich in 1782. His first attention was paid to assembling and planting a notable collection of foreign trees and shrubs throughout the park. Unusual specimens were brought to Machern from around Germany and from England and a large nursery was also established for growing from seed trees that could not be obtained otherwise. The park itself is one of the earliest examples of the aesthetic principles of Hirschfeld's THEORIE DER GARTENKUNST placed into practice. Von Lindenau's aesthetic views were no doubt also influenced by a visit to England in 1792. Work on several of the more important architectural features (including the pyramid, "Wilhelmsruhe" and the orangerie) was begun in that year. The Ritterburg or "knight's castle - the most famous of Machern's ornamental features - was completed in 1796 and is illustrated twice in Andreae's guide. The main portion of the text presents an enthusiastic description of the gardens and its various features. Eleven of these are depicted in the carefully hand-colored, though somewhat awkwardly drawn plates, which were prepared for the work by Johann Elias Lange. In addition to the castle itself, built as an island in a small lake, these plates presented views of the Temple of Aeolus, Wilhelm's Ruhe, the farmer's cottage, the entrance to the Ritterburg, the Ritterburg itself, a monument preserving an old urn found on the site, the "Knight's Grave", the coal shed in the zoo, and the gothic bridge. There is also a large colored folding plan of the gardens, measuring 40 x 47 cm, which includes in its upper corner a view of the pyramid-shaped mausoleum (the eleventh view referred to in the title). In addition to being important as an early and influential example of the english garden in Germany, Machern was also widely noted for its collection of foreign trees and shrubs, in particular the large selection of North American trees. Unlike other earlier and more famous German plant collections, however, at Machern the plantings were all incorporated into the naturalistic plan of the park, where the interest in them was generally more aesthetic than botanical. Machern is one of the earliest German examples of botanical collections presented in this way. In many cases the trees that Lindenau planted were unknown with respect to their ultimate size or character, often having been grown in his nursery from seed. The complete catalogue of the plant collection is given at the end of Andreae's guide. Giving both Latin and common names, it includes 467 trees and shrubs, 51 hardy flowering plants and bulbs, and 170 greenhouse and hothouse plants. The work is quite scarce, with only the NYBG copy (Reilley Collection) recorded in OCLC. The Berlin catalogue cites a second edition dated 1798, but we can find no other record of it. The 7 copies recorded by KVK are all dated 1796.   Oblong 4to (23.5 x 29 cm); (2) + 46 pp. + 10 color plates and one large folding plate with garden plan and view.   Berlin Cat. 3367.          Contemporary plain blue wrappers; backstrip torn; covers worn and spotted; text and plates clean; crease tear at center of folding plan resulting in loss of a small section measuring approximately .5 x 2 cm. $5,500.00

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